A Robotic Haptic Feedback Device for Immersive Virtual Reality Applications

The use of virtual reality technology has become popular in modern theme parks across the world. Attractions using virtual reality technologies offer highly immersive experiences as if people are really staying in fictional worlds that the theme parks like to create. Haptic feedback is an important piece in virtual reality, where it can increase the immersion and enjoyment, but most virtual reality attractions in theme parks do not offer enough haptic feedback. In this paper, we present HapticDaijya, which is a waist-worn robot capable of giving various haptic and tactile feedback on the torso, neck, face, arms and hands. We present the design and implementation of HapticDaijya. Then, we show a user study and analyze the results for investigating its feasibility. Also, we present preliminary evaluation results that gauged the user’s accuracy in distinguishing the locations of taps applied on the chest, as well as general usability and user acceptance.